Remote Support Efficiency Makes Texas Smaller

• Application Infrastructure & Middleware - API Integration & Management

• Education

• Remote Collaboration

• System Integration

Region 14 Education Service Center, which provides IT support and training services to 42 school districts, was facing a challenge. With just 11 support staff, they had to serve over 160 campus sites, 200 administrators, 4,000 teachers, and 43,000 students dispersed over hundreds of square miles. The team only had one network administrator to serve the service center and its staff. As educational funding continues to decrease, most schools have few dedicated IT technicians on site. Technicians at the individual school level are typically teachers or aides who have been asked to wear an extra hat and often have little IT training. Prior to Bomgar, the Region 14 support team had minimal remote control capabilities. Whether it was an urgent server incident or a routine email support issue, support staff usually had to drive to each client site for most issues.

Region 14 Education Service Center is an educational organization that provides IT support and training services to 42 school districts. The organization is responsible for serving over 160 campus sites, 200 administrators, 4,000 teachers, and 43,000 students dispersed over hundreds of square miles. The team only has one network administrator to serve the service center and its staff. As educational funding continues to decrease, most schools have few dedicated IT technicians on site. Technicians at the individual school level are typically teachers or aides who have been asked to wear an extra hat and often have little IT training.

With more demand for IT support and less funding and resources to provide it, Region 14 began researching remote desktop support options. While some products provided remote support capabilities, many didn’t give sufficient indication to end users that their screens were being controlled, creating security issues. Other solutions also compromised client security by requiring a complex installation process on the user side, but no automatic uninstallation after the issue was resolved. Two of the primary reasons Region 14 chose Bomgar were ease of use and security. Bomgar has the ability to pass through client site firewalls, but still requires the end-user to grant access before remote control is initiated. Because the solution automatically uninstalls at the end of each session, there is no risk of technicians having unauthorized access to users’ desktops. Finally, users can connect using a variety of different methods – such as an online support portal or email invitation – which makes support accessible to anyone, anywhere.

• Bomgar has drastically changed the way Region 14 handles IT support, from increases in productivity and resolution times to much-welcomed cost efficiencies.
• For the IT support team, a server maintenance issue can be resolved in three minutes rather than three hours, which allows them to focus their time and energy on more urgent and/or complicated issues.
• Management staff overseeing the Region 14 support team can connect to the Bomgar Box while traveling to ensure the IT support machine never slows down.

• Gas savings have been significant.
• The team increased its travel budget by 15 percent in 2009, but hasn’t had to touch a penny of it.